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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132290">Breviary</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spfuzz/pseuds/spfuzz'>spfuzz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Three Loves, Four Seasons [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Avatar State, Bending (Avatar), Bloodbending (Avatar), Canon Character of Color, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Flash Fic, Fluff, Inappropriate Use of Bending (Avatar), LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Smut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:48:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/spfuzz/pseuds/spfuzz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Fire Lord, The Avatar, and the Last Southern Waterbender are objects of mystery, of contemplation, of adoration, even of worship - for no one more than for each other.</p><p>A book of hours for Zuko, Katara, and Aang. 8 drabbles to match the historic canonical hours as well as the 2020 Zutaraang Week prompts:</p><p>1: Intro: Isaiah 32:2</p><p>2. Bonus prompt: Beach (Matins: Sunreturn) </p><p>3. Monday 08/31 – Jealousy (Sext: Shadows at Noon)</p><p>4. Tuesday 09/01 – Secrets (Terce: Zooms, Booms, and Unlocked Rooms) </p><p>5. Wednesday 09/02 - Avatar State (Compline: More Than One Lifetime)</p><p>6. Thursday 09/03 – Tea (Vespers: Love and Lamplight in the Lower Ring)</p><p>7. Friday 09/04 – Steam(y) (None: At The End of A Summer Storm, Epilogue to “Fast and Free, Then It’s Quiet Again.”)</p><p>8. Saturday 09/05 – Worship (Lauds: As Our Lady Commands)</p><p>9. Sunday 09/06 – Stars (Vigil: The Stars Do Not Tell Tales)</p><p> </p><p>Post-ATLA, extending Korra, compliant with "Three Loves, Four Seasons."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Mai/Ty Lee, Jet/Jin (Avatar), Katara &amp; Sokka (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Sokka/Suki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Three Loves, Four Seasons [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Zutaraang Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Introduction; Isaiah 32:2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Find the prompts and more of that good good OT3 here:</p><p>https://zutaraangtastic.tumblr.com/post/625273534674075648/announcing-zutaraang-week-2020-a-week-to</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mai's a shadow, but Katara can find rest in her shade.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>"And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mai cornered Katara by the fountain.</p><p>“Katara. You’ve been avoiding me.”</p><p>“Oh! I haven’t–”</p><p>“Katara, don’t lie to me. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t fight, even with the fountain.”</p><p>“I…”</p><p>“We promised. No lies between the four of us. What’s wrong?”</p><p>“You’re pregnant.”</p><p>“I <em>told</em> you that’s no excuse.”</p><p>“No, that’s it. Aang…we’ve been trying so hard.”</p><p>The gold coins of Mai’s eyes melted. “Oh, <em>Katara.”</em></p><p>“I’m so-so-sorry,” Katara sobbed. “I know they both want children SO badly and I don’t mean to hold it against...”</p><p>“Katara. I know. I don’t blame you.” Mai held her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Isaiah 32:2 is, of course, the quotation posted up top (in the KJV.)</p><p>I initially wrote this for "Jealousy" but it didn't hit right. I liked the idea of Mai as a restful, rather than intimidating, shadow, especially given Zuko's relationships.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Matins: Sunreturn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Good morning and happy birthday, Katara! An in-progress snippet from "In The Bleak Midwinter."</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bonus: Beach</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katara felt relief dawn with the sun rising over the shore for the first time in four months. She’d had a dark winter, thinking Zuko had put them aside, but Mai <em>knew</em>, <em>approved</em>, sent Zuko south for them – for <em>her birthday, </em>Sunreturn<em>?</em></p><p>And that, damn Sozin, Fire Lords<em> could</em> and<em> did</em> love men, even Avatars? She could kill him all over again.</p><p>“But then we wouldn’t have Zuko,” Aang murmured. She realized she’d been thinking out loud.</p><p>Katara felt Zuko’s furnace-like chest shift against her back. “While I’d dig him up and prosecute him for you, no charges would stick.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sunreturn is happily borrowed from Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series, polar night from the natural world. </p><p>Sozin banning same-sex relationships is LOK comic-canon. I've borrowed it for In The Bleak Midwinter, Ch. 3 (Aang, Roku, and Kyoshi discuss this at length.)</p><p>Sorry for those of you that are sympathetic to Cromwell.</p><p>Matins, Lauds, and Vigil all share roots in the late night/early morning/dawn period, with vigils eventually moving to night before a major feast day, and Matins and Lauds both being celebrated as sunrise/morning prayers services. </p><p>In The Bleak Midwinter happens during the end of a polar night, so you'll have two "sunrise services" in this breviary. Cheers.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Sext: Shadows at Noon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jealousy runs in more directions than you think.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>08/31 - "Jealousy"</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What names are you considering?” Katara asked.</p><p>“Izumi, if she’s a girl,” Zuko said excitedly.</p><p>“That’s lovely, Zuko,” Katara said, a melancholy smile on her face.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Zuko asked.</p><p>“Nothing! I mean, the baby is going to be wonderful, It just...feels like you’re going to be spending more time with Mai.”</p><p>Zuko took Katara’s right hand and Aang’s left. “A fountain throws water into the air, too, Kat. Even if this child isn’t ours, it’s still <em>ours</em>.”</p><p>“I know, we know, but...it’s hard to not miss you in advance.”</p><p>“Well, let’s make some memories against those days.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I like Izumi. You'll be seeing more of her.<br/>Sext is the second of the "little hours," prayed at noon, and seen as a culmination of the day. The general message is "lead us not into temptation" - and one can be tempted to resentment and despair and jealousy as much as pleasurable vice. Noon is also not a time when shadows are long - except, of course, for the one cast by Mai's pregnancy.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Terce: Zooms, Booms, and Unlocked Rooms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mai holds their secrets - and Izumi and Bumi just read themselves in.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>09/01 - Secrets</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bumi and Izumi looked each other.</p><p>“That...explains a lot,” Bumi said. <em>Uncle Zuko’s intensity with Mom when they dance, Dad playing with Uncle’s hair…</em></p><p>“How can you <em>say</em> that?!” Izumi hissed, flushed. It looked fetching contrasted with her naval uniform….<em>no, not after that.</em></p><p>“You sound so much like him when he was a teenager,” Mai said.</p><p>They jumped.</p><p>“How…?”</p><p>“Zooms may be quick, but I’m quicker. And Booms, you’re still loud.”</p><p>“Mom...you <em>knew</em>?”</p><p>Mai exhaled once – <em>how she laughs, Uncle Sokka says</em>, recalled Bumi –</p><p>“Not my story to tell. Or yours, <em>soldiers</em>. Come, they’re waiting for you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Terce is prayed at 0900, the "third hour" of the day (hence the name.) It's associated with Pentecost and is the first of the "little hours," or breaks in the work day to pray for strength. It's the first stop in the midst of work, asking for strength for the day.</p><p>Bumi and Izumi are newly-minted cadets - Bumi in the  United Republic's Forces, Izumi following her pops into the Fire Navy. Our intrepid young voyagers are going to need all the strength they can get, and Mai is famously...terse. ;-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Compline: More Than One Lifetime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oh, Korra, just hold hands.</p><p>09/02 - Avatar State</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Korra meditated, a sliver of consciousness noting that Zuko and Katara had joined her, joining her hands and their own. They’d meditate with her, but never on this day.</p><p>Suddenly, in the space where she felt only herself and Raava, a bright, smiling, familiar presence. <em>Aang?</em></p><p>
  <em>Yes. Tell them I’ll see them soon. Oh, and happy birthday.</em>
</p><p>Suddenly, behind Aang, ten thousand years of Avatars, the previous cycle of them, roared back, filling in the space she remembered from her youth.</p><p>Stunned, Korra opened her eyes, feeling tears. Zuko and Katara sat, eyes closed, faces slack with rapture and relief.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Title and summary are nods to ATLA s3e6: "The Avatar and the Fire Lord."</p><p>Compline is the last prayer of the day, after which monastics and their guests are silent until morning. Luke 2:29-32 (in the preceding note) is part of the Canticle of Simeon, used in the contemporary Compline service.</p><p>I couldn't let Zuko and Katara leave without seeing Aang one last time.</p><p>Korra's birthday is, of course, the same day that Aang died, and one that they'd probably avoid her on.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Vespers: Old Friends and Old Flames in the Outer Ring</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>09/03 - Tea</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Do you know the way to Ba Sing Se?</p><p>Or, three lovers take a trip out of town for a wedding, and sneak out.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They sipped Iroh’s tea by a fountain in the Lower Ring, dressed in inconspicuous shades of green.</p><p>“How does it feel to see your ex-boyfriend marry your ex-girlfriend?” Aang asked.</p><p>“Probably as weird as it must be to see your girlfriend’s ex-boyfling marry your boyfriend’s ex-girlfling,” Zuko replied.</p><p>Katara stuck out her tongue, “Such attitude. What did Jin see in you?”</p><p>Zuko grinned. “Close your eyes.”</p><p>Zuko focused his chi and brought up the lights as the twilight dimmed.</p><p>“This helped, I think.”</p><p>“Oh. <em>WOW</em>.”</p><p>“Think I earned it?”</p><p>“That and more, when we get back to the Jasmine Dragon.”<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>In case I wasn't clear, it's Jin and Jet who get married.</p><p>Vespers are a sundown prayer in the Roman Church, and is used by some Protestant denominations to describe evening services. I grew up in one of those Protestant churches and "vespers" was always used as shorthand for "opportunity to talk to the person you like/moment when you have to dodge your ex." Also, I distinctly remember sneaking away for coffee or tea with a cutie after most vespers.</p><p>So: Three lovers, at sunset, sneaking out to grab tea and dodge their exes.</p><p>The epigram is my rendition of "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" I'd love to write "Do You Know The Way to Ba Sing Se?" someday.</p><p>Also, I like "fling" rather than "friend" for Jin and Jet. :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. None: At The End of A Summer Storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For 09/04 - Steam(y)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is an epilogue to "Fast And Free, Then It's Quiet Again," my first fic (and my first foray into Zutaraang!) You can find it here:</p><p>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006637/chapters/57752428</p><p>It reads well as a standalone drabble, too.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katara wakes first, and shuffles to the shower, grumbling. Zuko mentioned the hot water was broken. She stretches, feeling the delicious soreness between her thighs.</p><p>Arms circle her waist, and sword-callused hands massage her fingers, cramped from bloodbending. Katara smiles up at Zuko.</p><p>“How much of that did you plan with Aang?”</p><p>Zuko laughs, short and sharp. “None of it. I was hoping I’d catch you here, though.” He trails off as the water warms up.</p><p>Katara looks at Zuko, delighted.<br/>
<br/>
“Lightning, bloodbending, <em>and</em> steam? We’ve not had a day this...packed in a while.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ve missed you.”</p><p>“Show me.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>None (pronounced like "own" or "alone") or Nones is the last of the minor hours, prayed nine hours after dawn (so around 1500, or 3pm.) As with all the hours, there are different explanations for its significance, but it seems to be rooted in the idea that the Roman world concluded its business around this time. </p><p>I was thinking about doing a "Katara and Aang ambush Zuko in his office" drabble, but remembering that "Fast and Free" ends with an post-nooner nap and knowing that steam is a term of art for Zutarians, I felt adding a steamy mid-afternoon moment to established Zutaraang might make sense.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Lauds: As Our Lady Commands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For 09/05 - Worship</p><p>They feel the sun (and her body arch.)<br/>Sometimes their love's a victory march.<br/>Today? A blinking, drowsy hallelujah.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Slightly steamier than the rest, still not explicit.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Mmm.” Katara arched her back at the warmth on her neck. “Early.”</p><p>“You rise with the Moon, we rise with the Sun, sweetie.”</p><p>“<em>We?</em> Teaching my fiancé bad habits, Jerk Lord.”</p><p>“How could beginning the day worshiping his wife be at all a <em>bad habit?</em>”</p><p>“<em>Begin the day? </em>The sun hasn’t come up yet!”</p><p>“It will the same time as you do, sweetie.”</p><p>“Oh-<em>oh!</em> Well, can’t get back to bed.”</p><p>“You’re already here, Katara.”</p><p>“Ugh, you know what I mean. Stupid firebenders being stupidly awake, stupid early – oh! Do that again.”</p><p>“As my lady commands.”</p><p>“<em>Ours, </em>Your Hotness.”</p><p><em>“Boys.</em>”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lauds overlaps with Matins and Vigil as part of the dark-then-dawn part of the liturgical day, with Lauds, like Matins, being about the morning sun. Lauds is about praise and victory. Psalms 148-150 are used in the Western liturgy, all of them using the refrain "praise the Lord" (in Hebrew, "hallelujah.")</p><p>That song's melancholy, and this collection has been, too. Thought I'd subvert it for you.</p><p>(The summary, of course, is adapted from the Leonard Cohen song. What's your favorite version? I'm torn between Daniel Kahn's Yiddish translation and Jeff Buckley's haunting cover.)</p><p>While I'd had this fic prepped, h/t to HeyJude19, whose use of the song in their Dramione "Remain Nameless" (see Chapter 23) reminded me how much I enjoy the song.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Vigil: The Stars Do Not Tell Tales</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For 09/06 - Stars<br/>Star-crossed siblings and a prelude to a conversation.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>They've always kept watch for each other. This will be no different.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka turned suddenly, finding surprised blue eyes.</p><p>Katara looked at him with one foot still on the other side of the threshold – of Zuko’s room.</p><p>Sokka looked past her carefully and saw a flash of ochre and crimson on the floor behind her.</p><p>He looked back at his sister, eyebrow up.</p><p>
  <em>Both, huh?</em>
</p><p>Katara cocked her chin at his door.</p><p>
  <em>What’s <span class="u">Suki’s</span> boyfriend doing in <span class="u">Toph’s</span> room this late? </em>
</p><p>Sokka cocked his head at the courtyard, and walked outside.</p><p>
  <em>Gran-Gran always said that the best place to share secrets was under the stars –</em>
  <em> “They’re too far away to tell tales.”</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Vigils originated in the Roman term for a fourth part of the night. Once a nighttime part of the daily liturgy, the vigil has evolved into staying up late to pray before major feasts. As part of it, it overlaps with Matins and Lauds in some cases. It's come into the English language as a synonym for watchfulness - "vigilant" and "vigilance" come from the term.</p><p>Of course these two would be up in the night watching each other's backs (and, eventually, hearts.)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'll eventually repost this in actual order of the hours, but for now, sticking to prompt order.</p><p>Betaed by the peerless Philosopher_King.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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